Author
Topic: Binary Domain - The spiritual successor to Snatcher?

So I was keeping an eye on this one since it was first announced as the brainchild of Toshihiro Nagoshi, of Yakuza fame. I had no idea it was going to be localized, and so soon. Turns out its going to be be released here on Feb 28th. The demo is available on PSN as well as Xbox Live Gold. The game taps into some pretty excellent themes of human evolution and our relationships with machines. Those of you who loved Snatcher, or raved over Phillip K. Dick's 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' (or watched the movie version known as Blade Runner) will definitely find that same vibe.

After playing the demo, I have to say that i'm pretty impressed. Visually, it's a little rough around the edges, but its a pretty solid cover/squad based shooter with voice command recognition that doesn't suck. The voice acting is also pretty top notch as well. This game totally came out of left field, but i'm glad its on my radar.

Now I could be wrong. Heck, I hope I'm wrong. But everything I have seen about this game screams we're-desperately-trying-to-imitate-the-west-but-don't-actually-know-what-we're-doing to me. Now maybe there is an interesting story under there, but the actual gameplay looks like a mix of been-there-1000-times-before 3rd person cover shooter and some stupid gimmicks (wow, if you don't keep your teammates happy they'll refuse to follow your orders...and they're supposed to be pros). The game doesn't even look good graphically.

Like I said, I hope I'm wrong. But jeez I have a baaad feeling about this one...

I have, seems ok, keep in mind I've never played vanquish, and wasn't a fan of gears. I only looked at it since I'm a fan of Yakuza. My final conclusion after playing the demo is to wait for it to be cheaper.

Logged

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing."~Malcolm X

I've gotten to ch.03 and I'm really enjoying it. The shooting mechanics are solid but what makes combat huge amounts of fun is the feedback from shooting the enemies .... well to quote Eurogamer.

Quote

but the shearing metal and scattering components of Binary Domain's opponents is intensely satisfying

And that's true!

Now this game is definitely trying to imitate Western shooters but it's quite obviously Japanese made. You'll have the borderline angry black guy who uses "aight" repeatedly and you have to wonder what the fuck these guys were thinking. But on the other hand some of the set-pieces and bosses are amazing. The combat is hugely satisfying and the dialogue of the characters are interesting and fun (and since you can answer differently the dialogues changes).

At set intersections you can choose which characters you want with you and the dialogue changes depending on your choice. In addition, the routes you take during the mission are supposed to change but I haven't seen that happen so far. (Also, I don't know if the game has different endings, I haven't checked). So far I've experienced a couple of short cutscenes and one that was genuinely shocking (due to how brutal it was) so the story has some interesting things to say for itself.

If you're interested in a "odd" game then go for it. That's why I bought it.

I've gotten to ch.03 and I'm really enjoying it. The shooting mechanics are solid but what makes combat huge amounts of fun is the feedback from shooting the enemies .... well to quote Eurogamer.

Quote

but the shearing metal and scattering components of Binary Domain's opponents is intensely satisfying

And that's true!

Now this game is definitely trying to imitate Western shooters but it's quite obviously Japanese made. You'll have the borderline angry black guy who uses "aight" repeatedly and you have to wonder what the fuck these guys were thinking. But on the other hand some of the set-pieces and bosses are amazing. The combat is hugely satisfying and the dialogue of the characters are interesting and fun (and since you can answer differently the dialogues changes).

At set intersections you can choose which characters you want with you and the dialogue changes depending on your choice. In addition, the routes you take during the mission are supposed to change but I haven't seen that happen so far. (Also, I don't know if the game has different endings, I haven't checked). So far I've experienced a couple of short cutscenes and one that was genuinely shocking (due to how brutal it was) so the story has some interesting things to say for itself.

If you're interested in a "odd" game then go for it. That's why I bought it.

This +1. It's basically a mash-up of Modern Warfare, Vanquish and Snatcher. The ebonics isn't that terrible, but there's a few instances where its forced. The game has a strong opening and it really keeps you glued to the action. There's a couple of minor annoyances such as having your cover and dodge button the same - it leads to some contextual problems. Also the FOV could be better. There's a couple fights where visibility is extremely limited, and an improved FOV would have made all the difference. Aside from the control being a little rough around the edges (and the voice recognition can be dodgy at times), the game is a fucking blast to play and the strong voice acting and storyline excellently complement the gameplay. Definitely a sleeper hit.

Just finished the campaign. A bit on the short side, only about 8 hours, but man what a ride. The last two chapters are a pretty solid mind fuck. The ending was very satisfying (after the credits) but this story isn't over. Hats off to Sega on this one though - damn fine game.